System and method for storefront bank deposits

ABSTRACT

A method and system are disclosed for submitting financial instruments, cash and other value bearing documents for deposit at retail locations unaffiliated with the various financial institutions the deposits are directed to. The method includes identifying account holders and scanning the physical documents to be deposited with equipment at the retail location that is provided by a third party facilitator. The equipment at the retail location communicates with a third party facilitator system to lookup bank routing information and uses this information to complete a remote deposit transaction for the account holder with that account holder&#39;s particular financial institution. The system may include a standalone or distributed system having a memory in communication with a processor system configured to perform the method noted above.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/450,118, filed Jun. 24, 2019, pending, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/735,678, filed Jan. 7, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,380,565, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional App. Ser. No. 61/583,446 filed Jan. 5, 2012, the entirety of each is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosed embodiments relate to computer systems and communications. More particularly, systems and methods are provided for facilitating deposits into accounts at multiple financial institutions from a storefront location remotely located from any of the multiple financial institutions.

BACKGROUND

A deposit into an account at a financial institution, such as a retail customer might make at his or her bank, typically involves a customer personally bringing in the deposit to the financial institution or sending in the deposit for physical delivery of the financial instrument or cash. Because of this, a customer often needs to find a branch of the institution nearby and also needs to arrange to be at that location during the appropriate business hours. Regardless of the size of the financial institution and the number of branches, it is sometimes difficult or inconvenient to find the time to be in the right place at the right time to make a deposit.

When a customer wishes to withdraw funds from a remote location, automated teller machines (ATMs) are available that permit immediate access to funds from the customer's account. This type of transaction is often available even if the ATM is not operated by the customer's bank. In contrast, deposits from a customer that are intended for the customer's account are generally not available through ATMs operated by parties other than the customer's bank, and are not always a particularly efficient way of processing deposits even if the ATM is operated by the customer's bank.

SUMMARY

In order to provide improvements in the way account deposits are handled and add greater flexibility to both financial institutions and their customers, a system and method are provided for efficiently processing deposits for various financial institutions at locations other than those owned or operated by the financial institutions.

According to a first aspect, a computer-implemented method of processing deposits for unrelated financial institutions from a remote deposit system is disclosed. The method includes, at a processor of a third party facilitator system in communication with the remote deposit system, the processor receiving a communication from the remote deposit system requesting financial institution information, the communication including identification information pertaining to a financial institution. The processor determines the financial institution information, including communication path information for submitting remote deposits from the remote deposit system to the financial institution, based on the identification information. The processor then transmits the determined financial institution information to the remote deposit system.

In another aspect, a third party facilitator system for assisting a remote deposit transaction for a financial instrument between a remote deposit system and any of a plurality of financial institutions is disclosed. The third party facilitator system has a memory containing financial institution information, including communication path information, for the plurality of financial institutions, in addition to a processor in communication with the memory. The processor is configured to receive a communication from the remote deposit system requesting financial institution information, the communication including identification information pertaining to a financial institution, and determine the financial institution information, including communication path information for submitting remote deposits to the financial institution, based on the identification information. The processor is further configured to transmit the determined financial institution information to the at least one remote deposit system.

According to another aspect, a remote deposit system for depositing financial instruments with a financial institution includes a stand-alone kiosk. The stand-alone kiosk has a user interface configured to receive user information, a financial instrument scanner, a communication interface configured to communicate with a financial institution, and a processor. The processor is configured to receive account holder information for an account holder of a financial institution via the user interface, and transmit a financial institution information query to a third party facilitator system based on the received account holder information, where the financial institution information query requests identification of a communication path to the financial institution of the account holder. In response to the transmitted query, the processor is configured to receive financial institution information from the third party facilitator system, including the communication path information and transmit account holder information to the financial institution of the account holder using the received financial institution information. The processor scans a financial instrument, submits the scan data to the financial institution for deposit, and transmits a transaction identifier to the third party facilitator system, wherein the transaction identifier includes information pertaining to a completed deposit transaction with the financial institution.

In various embodiments of the above aspects, a customer of a first financial institution may approach a clerk in a retail location with a third party remote deposit scanning system, or approach a third party remote deposit scanning system in an unmanned kiosk at the retail location. The clerk receives the customer's ATM or other bank card associated with the first financial institution and swipes it though a card reader. Alternatively the customer swipes it directly at the kiosk. The card reader communicates via a network connection with a third party network to look up the financial institution information based on, for example, the first six digits of a bank identification number provided by the swiped card. The third party network returns the financial institution information to the retail location. A computer at the retail location (either accessible to the retail clerk or in the unmanned kiosk) encrypts the full card number of the swiped card and transmits it to the financial institution identified by the third party network. The deposit transaction may then proceed directly between the retail location or kiosk and the customer's financial institution. A transaction identifier may be generated to uniquely identify the transaction. The transaction identifier may be used by the third party network and the financial institution to handle any fees or licensing revenue that the third party facilitator may be owed for facilitating the deposit transaction between the financial institution and its customer from a retail location not associated with the financial institution.

Any manner of deposit may be associated with the system and method. Users may deposit funds via check, cash, credit card, electronic funds transfer, loan documents, etc. The deposits that are brought by account holders of various financial institutions to a system at the retail establishment for deposit at their respective financial institution may be in the form of physical documents such as financial instruments (e.g., checks, loan papers, promissory notes), currency, other value bearing documents or have some other form, such as credits, affinity points, frequent flyer miles, and etc.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a system diagram depicting a system and method for conducting remote deposit transactions from storefront locations in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an alternative embodiment of the system and method of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an alternative embodiment of the system and method of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is another alternative embodiment of the system and method of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a general purpose computer system that can be modified via computer hardware or software to be customized and specialized so as to be suitable for use as one or more components in the systems of FIGS. 1-4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention, and is provided in the context of particular applications of the invention and their requirements. Various modifications to the disclosed embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.

The program environment in which a present embodiment of the invention is executed illustratively incorporates a general-purpose computer or a special purpose device such as a hand-held computer, smartphone, or other similar device.

It should also be understood that the techniques of the present invention might be implemented using a variety of technologies. For example, the methods described herein may be implemented in software executing on a computer system, or implemented in hardware utilizing either a combination of microprocessors or other specially designed application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic devices, or various combinations thereof. In particular, the methods described herein may be implemented by a series of computer-executable instructions residing on a storage medium such as a disk drive, or other tangible computer-readable medium.

The various embodiments of the system and method discussed below are intended to allow customers of a financial institution to use an image capture system, such as a scanning system, at a retail establishment that is unrelated to the financial institution to initiate a remote deposit of financial instruments, such as checks, currency or other value bearing instruments into the financial institution. This scanning system at the retail establishment may be a personal computer with card and check scanning capabilities run by an employee of the retail establishment, or a stand-alone kiosk with built-in computer/scanner capabilities that is located at a retail establishment and may provide self-serve functions to various customers of different financial institutions to permit remote deposits into the financial institutions. Alternatively, the scanning system may be a smart device with camera capture capabilities such as a tablet or smart phone that is owned by the retail establishment, the customer or a third party facilitator. In one implementation, customers of the retail establishment may be permitted to bring into the retail establishment their own devices capable of capturing a deposit instrument image (e.g. a check image) for deposit into the customer's respective financial institution. The customer's device may have depositing capabilities enabled within a retail establishment based on successful completion of certain authentication and authorization protocols dictated by the retail establishment, the customer's financial institution, or both.

The retail establishment may be for any of a number of businesses, including but not limited to a grocery store, drugstore, coffee shop, package delivery service, or other storefront location unrelated to a financial institution. In one embodiment, the retail establishment may lease, or agree to permit the presence of, remote deposit equipment and software from a third party facilitator. The third party facilitator may have agreements with the retail establishment and multiple unrelated financial institutions to allow customers of the retail establishment, or others who simply desire a convenient location to deposit funds into their respective financial institutions, to use the third party facilitator equipment and software. Retail establishments may be paid by the third party facilitator a fixed amount or an amount that varies based on usage (e.g. number of deposits) in one embodiment. Financial institutions may pay the third party facilitator a fixed or variable rate based on usage. The reporting and confirmation of transactions may be automated and sent electronically between retail establishments and the third party facilitator, as well as between the participating financial institutions and the third party facilitator.

In one implementation, the equipment at the retail establishment, whether employee run or a self-serve kiosk, may allow any customer of any financial institution to deposit checks, currency or other value bearing instruments into their desired financial institution. A third party facilitator may provide the scanning and processing equipment to the retail establishment and have pre-arranged agreements and/or protocols set up with various participating financial institutions, so that the financial institutions know to accept remote deposit transactions initiated from the retail establishments using the third party facilitator. As will be described in greater detail below, the third party facilitator may provide bank routing information to the equipment at the retail establishment and then the equipment at the retail establishment will communicate directly with the appropriate financial institution to complete a remote deposit transaction.

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative system 100 for facilitating remote deposit to any of a plurality of different financial institutions from a retail establishment. The system 100 includes a retail establishment system 102, a third party facilitator system 104 and a financial institution system 106. Each of the retail establishment, third party facilitator and financial institution systems 102, 104, 106 may be a stand-alone or networked computer system made up of one or more servers or computers having processors configured to execute software or firmware arranged to manage a respective portion of the remote deposit process described herein.

The retail establishment system 102 may include a computing device such as a personal computer 108 and a card and check scanner 110 or other image capture device(s) in communication with the personal computer 108. The personal computer 108 preferably includes a web client 112 or other communication software for handling the interface to a financial institution that is provided to the retail establishment by a third party facilitator. In alternative implementations, a handheld computing and or scanning device may be used in conjunction with, or instead of, a personal computer. It is also contemplated that the computer may be integrated with the image capture device, such as a standard flatbed scanner or other scanner, and the card scanner for optically or magnetically reading information from bank cards or other cards. Alternative image capture devices may include digital cameras. Additionally, the integrated or discrete retail establishment system 102 may be configured for use by an authorized employee of the retail location, a combination of the authorized employee and an account holder seeking to deposit funds, or for use by the account holder alone. In other embodiments, two display screens may be included, one for the authorized employee at the retail location and another for the account holder seeking to deposit funds so that even greater confidentiality may be maintained during a deposit transaction.

The third party facilitator system 104 may include one or more servers or other processing equipment and a bank lookup database 114. The bank lookup database 114 may include bank contact information, including electronic address and security protocols, indexed by, for example, bank identification number (BIN) data. The third party facilitator system 104 may further include a transaction log application 116 and associated tracking database 118 for maintaining a record of remote deposit transactions facilitated by the third party facilitator system 104 between one or more retail establishment systems 102 and the various financial institution systems 106. Additionally, the third party facilitator system 104 may include a server side services module 120 for communicating transaction information with the various financial institution systems 106 that utilize the remote deposit capabilities supported by the third party facilitator through retail establishments unaffiliated with the financial institution systems 106. The financial institution system 106 may include a bank account lookup function 122, a deposit and image acquisition service function 124 along with an image cash letter (ICL) generation component 126 and bank check clearing and payment modules 128, 130.

In the system 100 of FIG. 1, when an account holder of a particular financial institution 106 wishes to deposit a check, that account holder need not go to a specific branch of the financial institution, or even a dedicated ATM (automated teller machine) for that financial institution. Instead, that account holder may go to a retail establishment system 102 which may be located at a retail establishment unaffiliated with the financial institution, for example a grocery store, drug store, express package delivery service, or any other type of retail establishment, and deposit that check in their particular financial institution from the retail establishment system 102. In instances where the retail establishment utilizes an employee to help establish the deposit, the account holder would provide the employee with a bank card for the particular financial institution as well as the check, or checks that the account holder wishes to deposit. The retail establishment employee would swipe the card in the scanner 110 on the personal computer 108, utilizing the web client 112 to contact the third party facilitator system 104. The retail establishment system 102 would send, for example, the first six digits of the bank identification number (BIN) read from the swiped card to the bank lookup database 114 in the third party facilitator system 104 (at 132).

In response to the query from the retail establishment system 102, the bank lookup database 114 would return bank information, including electronic address (routing) and encryption requirements, to the retail establishment system 102 (at 134). Next, using the received bank information, the retail establishment system 102, through the web client 112 running on the personal computer 108, would send, in encrypted form, the entire card number for the account holder's swiped card to the financial institution system 106 (at 136). Upon receipt of the encrypted card number at the financial institution system 106, the bank lookup account function 122 at the financial institution would return information to the retail establishment system 102 indicating the various accounts available to the account holder at the institution in which a deposit may be made (at 138).

The selection of accounts, which would be displayed by the web client 112 on the personal computer 108 at the retail establishment system 102, may be handled by the account holder directly, or the retail establishment employee. The account holder would select the appropriate account and then either scan, or hand to the retail establishment employee to scan, the check or other value bearing instrument. The web client 112 would handle scanning of the check, for example both the front and the back side of the check, and prepare the check image for transmission back to the financial institution system 106 (at 140). One or more checks may be scanned for simultaneous or sequential transmission.

In one embodiment, a transaction log entry may be sent from the retail establishment system 102 to the third party facilitator system 104 upon transmission of the check image(s) and/or additional data obtained from the scan at the retail establishment system 102, and completion of a remote deposit transaction by the retail establishment system 102 (at 142). The log information transmitted to the third party facilitator system 104 would be received at the transaction log function 116 operating on the third party facilitator system 104. This information, or a portion of the information, would be stored in a tracking database 118. The transaction log information sent from the retail establishment system 102 may include non-sensitive data that can simply identify the number of remote deposit transactions that the particular retail establishment system 102 has handled, along with any of a number of parameters such as data transaction, amount of transaction, financial system identifier or other combinations of these or other parameters. The log information may include a unique transaction ID generated by the retail establishment system 102, or generated by the financial institution system 106 and returned to the third party facilitator system 104 via the retail establishment system 102. The unique transaction ID could even originate from the third party facilitator system 104 upon an initial query by the retail establishment system 102 for bank look-up data.

Once the financial institution system 106 receives the check image transmitted by the retail establishment system 102, the deposit and image acquisition analysis module 124 of the financial institution system 106 receives the check image, which may be a digital representation of a physical check or other value bearing instrument, and processes that image according to the image processing software run by the module 124 to verify that all the required data has been received, make adjustments for potentially cleaning up the image, or other image processing tasks. The date, amount, account information and other instrument processing data may be harvested by the deposit and image acquisition module (for financial instruments such as checks) in this implementation. After appropriate processing of the check image by the deposit and image acquisition module 124, the financial institution system 106 may process the image to generate an image cash letter (ICL) using an ICL generation component 126 and then send that ICL to a check clearing function 128.

In order to settle any account or agreement with the third party facilitator system 104, the financial institution system 106 tracks, or receives, information regarding the remote deposit transactions facilitated by the third party facilitator system 104 and settles with the third party facilitator system 104 for the amount of fees that the third party facilitator may charge, per transaction, monthly or otherwise, for those transactions using the external settlement module 130 of the financial institution system 106. The third party facilitator system 104, using its server side services module 120, may compare transaction log information from the tracking database 118 against the fees or licensing information received on a periodic basis from the financial services institution 106. Alternatively, the server side services module 120 may send a report including tracking information from the tracking database 118 to the financial services institution 106 to prompt payment and reconciliation based on any agreement between the financial services institution 106 and the third party facilitating service 104.

In order to communicate between the retail establishment system 102 and the third party facilitator and financial institution systems 104, 106, any of a number of data transmission formats may be used. For example, the communications between the retail establishment system 102 and the third party facilitator system 104 may be over wired or wireless communication channels. Similarly, communications between the retail establishment system 102 and financial institution system 106 may also be wired or wireless. To enhance security for the transactions, the account holder who wishes to deposit funds into the financial institution system 106 may be required to present a bank card, such as an automated teller machine (ATM) bank card or debit card that the equipment at the retail establishment system 102 may scan and then send to the third party facilitator system 104. The retail establishment system 102 may only send the first six digits of the BIN (bank identification number) digits from the bank card so that bank routing information can be provided back to the retail establishment system 102 without compromising or exposing account holder information from the remainder of the bank identification number data read from the card. Next, the full card information transmitted from the retail establishment system 102 to the financial institution system 106 may be encrypted when transmitted to the financial institution. Preferably, all communication sent to the financial institution system 106 may be made using secure socket layer (SSL) over HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) with mutual authentication required. Any of a number of forms of encryption may be used for the encryption of information sent back and forth between the retail establishment system 102 and financial institution system 106.

Other forms of security (e.g., digital certificates, biometric devices, near-field communication) may be employed in addition to, or separately from, the bank card swipe, in other embodiments of the invention. For example, the retail establishment system 102 may, instead of reading a bank card from a customer to perform a bank lookup, allow the customer to utilize a secure token. The customer may receive the secure token from the financial institution for the customer, when at the retail establishment or prior to entering the retail establishment, via email, SMS communication, out-of-band application on the customer's smart phone or tablet, etc. Once the customer enters the token information at the retail establishment, the token may then assist in determining both the bank and the accounts tied to that customer. Other non-card implementations are contemplated where, instead of a bank lookup based on a BIN from a bank card, the retail establishment system may be configured to offer upfront bank/financial institution choices for a customer to choose from in which case a BIN lookup may be unnecessary.

In addition to the basic system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1, various alternative options for implementing deposit of checks, currency and other value bearing instruments to financial institutions unrelated to the retail establishment are contemplated. For example, referring to FIG. 2, a system 200 is illustrated where the retail establishment system 202 and third party facilitator system 204 may be identical to the counterparts described in FIG. 1, but where the financial institution system 206 differs from financial institution system 106 in that rather than using its own interface to communicate with the web client provided by the third party facilitator to the retail establishment system 102, the financial institution system 206 incorporates a software interface 207 customized to communicate with the retail establishment system 202 and the web client 212 running on the computer 208. The software interface 207 may be provided by the third party facilitator system 204 to handle translation of any data formats or protocols between the web client 212 and the software modules or systems of the financial institution system 206. For example, the interface software 207 may include an account lookup interface 209 and a deposit acquisition interface 211 that respectively communicate with the account lookup service 222 and deposit and image acquisition module 224 of the financial institution system 206. In this embodiment, the remainder of the system elements and method steps for the transaction would remain identical to those described with respect to the embodiment of FIG. 1.

Another variation of the remote deposit system 300 is illustrated in FIG. 3. In this embodiment, the retail establishment system 302 and third party facilitator system 304 are identical to those in FIGS. 1 and 2. Here, however, the financial institution system 306 is implemented using a more detailed software infrastructure 307 than the embodiment of FIG. 2 in that the third party facilitator system 304 has provided the financial institution system 306 with deposit capture software capabilities the financial institution system 306 may not independently support. The third party facilitator software 307 residing in the financial institution system 307 may include an account lookup service 309 and a deposit and image acquisition module 324. The deposit and image acquisition module 324 in the third party facilitator provided software 307 may communicate with the financial institution deposit handler 305, while the account lookup service 309 may communicate with the financial institution system 306 account lookup handler 313. In addition, the deposit and image acquisition module 324 may communicate with a database 327 for storing check image data which in turn communicates with an image cache letter (ICL) generation unit 326. The ICL generation component 326 may then communicate with the financial institution's ICL parser 329 that may then send information on to an external check clearing mechanism 330. The remaining elements and functions of the system 300 are identical to those described with respect to FIG. 1. Thus the software package 307, which may be implemented as an application programming interface (API) layer within the data center of the financial institution system 306, may be used when the financial institution does not have systems to process remote deposit capture deposits.

In yet another alternative embodiment, a system 400 for handling deposits from a third party source capable of sending deposits to any of a number of unaffiliated financial institutions at which a depositor has an account, using a third party facilitator is shown. The system 400 of FIG. 4 is substantially identical to that of FIG. 1 with the exception of the financial institution system 406. In this embodiment, even more so than the embodiment of FIG. 3, the financial institution system 406 utilizes a complete remote deposit capture system 440 managed by the third party facilitator. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the full remote deposit capture functionality 440 may be hosted at the financial institution system or at a facility for the third party facilitator, which may be at the same or different facility than the third party facilitator system 404, which then in turn communicates with the financial institution system 406. In this embodiment, the third party facilitator infrastructure 440 includes an account lookup service 409, deposit and image acquisition module 424, a database for storing check images and information 427, an ICL generation module 426 and module for handling the check clearing function 430. The financial institution system 406 in this embodiment provides account information for deposit credit and handles reconciliation with the payor banks.

Although several embodiments for using a storefront deposit service, such as at a retail establishment system 402, to allow any of a number of account holders for any of a number of different financial institutions to deposit checks, the type of financial instruments or other value bearing instrument is not limited to checks. The disclosed systems and methods may be employed for transmitting other types of executed financial documents, such as loan documents for automobiles, homes and other loans, vouchers for affinity points, cash, and other value bearing instruments. Further details and alternatives for using third party agents to deposit such instruments are described in pending U.S. application Ser. No. 13/373,703, filed Nov. 23, 2011, entitled “Apparatuses, Methods and Systems for Remote Deposit Service”, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

Referring to FIG. 5, an illustrative embodiment of a general computer system that may be used for one or more of the components shown in FIGS. 1-4, or in any other financial transaction system configured to carry out the methods discussed above, is shown and is designated 500. The computer system 500 can include a set of instructions that can be executed to cause the computer system 500 to perform any one or more of the methods or computer-based functions disclosed herein. The computer system 500 may operate as a standalone device, or may be connected using a network, to other computer systems or peripheral devices.

In a networked deployment, the computer system may operate in the capacity of a server or as a client user computer in a server-client user network environment, or as a peer computer system in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The computer system 500 can also be implemented as or incorporated into various devices, such as a personal computer (“PC”), a tablet PC, a set-top box (“STB”), a personal digital assistant (“PDA”), a mobile device, a palmtop computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a network router, switch or bridge, or any other machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. In a particular embodiment, the computer system 500 can be implemented using electronic devices that provide voice, video or data communication. Further, while a single computer system 500 is illustrated, the term “system” shall also be taken to include any collection of systems or sub-systems that individually or jointly execute a set, or multiple sets, of instructions to perform one or more computer functions. In alternative embodiments, the computer system may be a handheld device with wired and or wireless communication capabilities.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the computer system 500 may include a processor 502, such as a central processing unit (“CPU”), a graphics processing unit (“GPU”), or both. Moreover, the computer system 500 can include a main memory 504 and a static memory 506 that can communicate with each other via a bus 508. As shown, the computer system 500 may further include a video display unit 510, such as a liquid crystal display (“LCD”), an organic light emitting diode (“OLED”), a flat panel display, a solid state display, or a cathode ray tube (“CRT”). Additionally, the computer system 500 may include an input device 512, such as a keyboard, and a cursor control device 514, such as a mouse. Other input devices 512 may include flatbed scanners, digital cameras, magnetic card readers or scanners, near-field RF detectors and the like. The computer system 500 can also include a disk drive unit 516, a signal generation device 518, such as a speaker or remote control, and a network interface device 520.

In a particular embodiment, as depicted in FIG. 5, the disk drive unit 516 may include a computer-readable medium 522 in which one or more sets of instructions 524, such as software, can be embedded. Further, the instructions 524 may embody one or more of the methods or logic as described herein. In a particular embodiment, the instructions 524 may reside completely, or at least partially, within the main memory 504, the static memory 506, and/or within the processor 502 during execution by the computer system 500. The main memory 504 and the processor 502 also may include computer-readable media.

In an alternative embodiment, dedicated hardware implementations, including application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices, can be constructed to implement one or more of the methods described herein. Applications that may include the apparatus and systems of various embodiments can broadly include a variety of electronic and computer systems. One or more embodiments described herein may implement functions using two or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices with related control and data signals that can be communicated between and through the modules, or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit. Accordingly, the present system encompasses software, firmware, and hardware implementations.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure, the methods described herein may be implemented by software programs executable by a computer system. Further, in an exemplary, non-limited embodiment, implementations can include distributed processing, component/object distributed processing, and parallel processing. Alternatively, virtual computer system processing can be constructed to implement one or more of the methods or functionality as described herein.

The present disclosure contemplates a computer-readable medium that includes instructions 524 or receives and executes instructions 524 responsive to a propagated signal, so that a device connected to a network 526 can communicate voice, video or data over the network 526. Further, the instructions 524 may be transmitted or received over the network 526 via the network interface device 520.

While the computer-readable medium is shown to be a single medium, the term “computer-readable medium” includes a single medium or multiple media, such as a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers that store one or more sets of instructions. The term “computer-readable medium” shall also include any tangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by a processor or that cause a computer system to perform any one or more of the methods or operations disclosed herein.

In a particular non-limiting, exemplary embodiment, the computer-readable medium can include a solid-state memory such as a memory card or other package that houses one or more non-volatile read-only memories, such as flash memory. Further, the computer-readable medium can be a random access memory or other volatile re-writable memory. Additionally, the computer-readable medium can include a magneto-optical or optical medium, such as a disk or tapes or other storage device to capture information communicated over a transmission medium. A digital file attachment to an e-mail or other self-contained information archive or set of archives may be considered a distribution medium that is equivalent to a tangible storage medium. Accordingly, the disclosure is considered to include any one or more of a computer-readable medium or a distribution medium and other equivalents and successor media, in which data or instructions may be stored.

Although the present specification describes components and functions that may be implemented in particular embodiments with reference to particular standards and protocols commonly used by financial institutions, the invention is not limited to such standards and protocols. For example, standards for Internet and other packet switched network transmission (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTML, HTTP) represent examples of the state of the art. Such standards are periodically superseded by faster or more efficient equivalents having essentially the same functions. Accordingly, replacement standards and protocols having the same or similar functions as those disclosed herein are considered equivalents thereof.

Embodiments the methods disclosed herein can be implemented on existing financial services systems and/or other known financial industry systems. Both financial transaction systems and other known financial industry systems utilize a combination of computer hardware (e.g., client and server computers, which may include computer processors, memory, storage, input and output devices, and other known components of computer systems; electronic communication equipment, such as electronic communication lines, routers, switches, etc.; electronic information storage systems, such as network-attached storage and storage area networks) and computer software (i.e., the instructions that cause the computer hardware to function in a specific way) to achieve the desired system performance.

The foregoing descriptions of embodiments of the invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description only. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the forms disclosed. Accordingly, the above disclosure is not intended to limit the invention; the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for remotely depositing financial instruments into any of a plurality of financial institutions from a remote deposit device unrelated to the plurality of financial institutions, the method comprising a processor of the remote deposit device: receiving account holder information for an account holder of one of the plurality of financial institutions via a user interface of the remote deposit device; transmitting from the remote deposit device, over a first communication path between the remote deposit device and a third party facilitator system, a financial institution information query, wherein the third party facilitator system is unrelated to the plurality of financial institutions and the financial institution information query comprises a financial institution lookup request for identification of a second communication path from the remote deposit device to the one of the plurality of financial institutions based on the received account holder information; receiving, over the first communication path, the financial institution information from the third party facilitator system, including the second communication path, the second communication path comprising a direct communication path not including the third party facilitator system, from the remote deposit device to the one of the plurality of financial institutions; transmitting the account holder information to the one of the plurality of financial institutions over the second communication path; capturing an image of a financial instrument with an image capture device of the remote deposit device; and transmitting the captured image to the one of the plurality of financial institutions for deposit.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a transaction identifier to the third party facilitator system, wherein the transaction identifier includes information pertaining to a completed deposit transaction between the remote deposit device and the one of the plurality of financial institutions.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote deposit device is located at a retail location unaffiliated with any of the plurality of financial institutions.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the received account holder information comprises automated teller machine (ATM) card data from an ATM card received at the user interface of the remote deposit device.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the account holder information comprises a first portion containing a financial institution identifier for the one of the plurality of financial institutions and a second portion containing account holder identification information; and wherein transmitting the financial institution information query to the third party facilitator system comprises only transmitting the first portion of the account holder information over the first communication path.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein transmitting the account holder information to the one of the plurality of financial institutions over the second communication path comprises transmitting the first portion and the second portion of the account holder information over the second communication path.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the received account holder information comprises a token received by the account holder from a financial institution for the account holder and entered into the user interface.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to transmitting the captured image, transmitting a transaction log entry from the remote deposit device to the third party facilitator system identifying completion of transmission of the captured image to the one of the plurality of financial institutions.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising in response to a completion of the remote deposit transaction, transmitting a transaction log entry containing a unique transaction identifier generated at the one of the plurality of financial institutions.
 10. A remote deposit system for remotely depositing financial instruments into any of a plurality of financial institutions unrelated to the remote deposit system, comprising: a user interface configured to receive account holder information; a memory; and a processor in communication with the user interface and memory, the processor configured to: receive account holder information for an account holder of one of the plurality of financial institutions via the user interface; transmit from the remote deposit device, over a first communication path, a financial institution information query, wherein the third party facilitator system is unrelated to the plurality of financial institutions and the financial institution information query comprises a financial institution lookup request for identification of a second communication path from the remote deposit system to the one of the plurality of financial institutions based on the received account holder information; receive, over the first communication path, the financial institution information from the third party facilitator system, including the second communication path identification, the second communication path identification comprising a direct communication path not including the third party facilitator system, from the remote deposit system to the one of the plurality of financial institutions; transmit the account holder information to the one of the plurality of financial institutions over the second communication path; capture an image of a financial instrument with an image capture device at the remote deposit system; and transmit the captured image to the one of the plurality of financial institutions for deposit over the second communication path.
 11. The remote deposit system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to: transmit a transaction identifier to the third party facilitator system after transmitting the captured image, wherein the transaction identifier includes information pertaining to a completed deposit transaction between the remote deposit system and the one of the plurality of financial institutions.
 12. The remote deposit system of claim 10, wherein the remote deposit system is located at a retail location unaffiliated with any of the plurality of financial institutions.
 13. The remote deposit system of claim 10, wherein the received account holder information comprises automated teller machine (ATM) card data from an ATM card received at the user interface of the remote deposit system.
 14. The method of claim 10, wherein the account holder information comprises a first portion containing a financial institution identifier for the one of the plurality of financial institutions and a second portion containing account holder identification information; and wherein the processor is configured to only transmit the first portion of the account holder information to the third party facilitator system with the financial institution information query. 